Democrats Sing Off-Key On Trade (TomPaine.com)

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Democrats Sing Off-Key On Trade
Young Choe
May 15, 2007


Young Choe works at the Nodutdol for Korean Community Development in Queens, New York and is a member of Korean Americans for Fair Trade.

It’s been over 120 days since Democrats regained control over Congress, but one could hardly tell by the recent trade deal struck between the Democratic leadership with the Bush administration. Democrats have stayed the course on some promises made during the mid-term elections, like securing a timetable for withdrawing troops, but on the issue of trade, which rocked the vote and mobilized the masses, the Democratic leadership has turned their backs on the working class and progressives who put them in power.

The Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Ways and Means Chair Charles Rangel and Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus, struck a deal with the Bush administration that lobbyists for multinational corporations are declaring will pave the way for Congress to pass four bilateral trade agreements, including Panama, Peru and Korea, and extend Fast Track authority to President Bush.

“Pending U.S. free trade agreements will be amended to incorporate key Democratic priorities,” read a press release from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi trumpeting this compromise, which was then substantiated with vague rhetoric on fair trade, workers’ rights and environmental protections. I'm really glad that Pelosi is against things that most Americans agree are bad, like child and slave labor. But saying that core labor and environmental standards will be included—but not enforced—in agreements that just expand the failed NAFTA model is an affront to the auto workers who will be laid off in Detroit. We haven’t actually seen the legislation, but if statements by K Street lobbyists are accurate, the compromise fails to grant unions the right to go to courts to demand the enforcement of labor laws while granting multinational corporations greater rights to sue sovereign local, state and federal governments for laws that protect us.

Worse, if Democrats extend Fast Track to President Bush, they will not only sign over to this lawless president the exclusive right to negotiate massive trade deals. They will never realize the trade agenda put forth by freshmen Democrats and their progressive colleagues who have consistently demanded a “trade policy which will work for America’s working families, farmers, businesses, the environment and our local communities.”

...(snip)...

For far too long American workers have trusted Democrats to put forth a trade agenda that protects us from corporate piracy, only to be reminded time and again that many Democrats are beholden to the very same corporations controlling Republicans. In 2006, 37 brand new Democrats were elected on a fair trade platform that gave Democrats the majority in Congress. The buzz in Washington is that the freshmen democrats are hard at work to fulfill their campaign promises. It’s time for the Democratic base—labor and progressives—to remind the Democratic leadership that they must be held accountable to the people that gave them power and stop ceding it to the Republicans and corporations driving the free trade agenda. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/05/15/democrats_sing_offkey_on_trade.php